Snatched (Coronado Series Book 2) (29 page)

“I might recall something you mentioned… briefly.” He watched her pull out a piece of paper from her purse and flatten it out on her lap. “I knew signing that was going to come back and bite me in the ass.”

“Are you starting to feel the sting of the bite? If not, wait a minute, and I’m sure you will.”

“You and the baby are my first priority, and I want to make sure that you are both healthy, safe and happy. That is not going to change, no matter what you made me sign.”

“I did not make you, you signed it freely.”

“You had me sign it after you had your way with me. I would have signed anything you put in front of me.”

“Why do you think I gave it to you sign when I did? I’m a smart business woman, and I understand the importance of taking advantage of timing, when it’s in my favor.”

“I’m going to remember that the next time you start putting your mouth on me.”

“Should I not try and put my mouth on you anymore?”

“Oh no, I just said I’m going to remember it. You just keep doing whatever you feel is necessary.” She leaned over and kissed him and it felt the same way it always did when she put her mouth on his: like the whole world clicked into place and made sense.

“By the way, I agree with all of the things you suggested.”

“Then why did you give me a hard time and pull out the piece of paper?”

“Because you are bossy and you promised to back off a little. This piece of paper says that you promise not to be a dictator and listen to me.”

“So we are talking about the delivery and not the message?”

“Yes, I am your partner not your recruit.”

“Ok, I will work on my delivery. I’m a little crazy when it comes to you and now we are adding a baby. I don’t know how much it’s going to change.”

“I know, I just need to believe that you are trying.”

“I get it. I will try to back off and relax a little.” He watched her nod her head and look out the window. “I love you Mrs. Bishop.”

She turned back to him and smiled, “I love you too Mr. Bishop.” She looked down at his hand at his wedding band and rubbed her finger across it. “You are not going to take that off when we get home, are you?”

“Probably not, I feel like it would be wrong. The marriage vows we took on the beach mean everything to me and this ring is the hard evidence of that.”

He picked up her hand and looked at her rings, “Are you going to take off your wedding band?”

“Probably not. Oh Max…. what are we going to do? My Mama is going to be so upset that we did it without her. My sisters are going to go crazy and I can’t blame them.”

“What if we try and book a small room at the Hotel Valencia this weekend and get married. We can just get it done.”

“Has the sale gone through yet?”

I don’t think so, Frank was going to text me when he got confirmation that it was complete. He wants us to be prepared because of Jackson.”

“Let me send a quick email to the manager and see what they have available. It may just work.” She pulled out her phone and sent off a quick email and hoped they would get good news. She heard the flight attendant start the announcements about turning off electronic devices. She checked to make sure that the email went through before she turned off her phone. She slipped it back inside of her purse and took out her sour gummies and bottle of water. “Good thing we are going home, I only have three bags left.”

“I will go out tomorrow morning and get you several more cases.”

“You are turning out to be an excellent husband. I’m sure glad I had the good sense to marry you.”

“Me too sweetheart.”

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Jackson sat in his office and tried to decide if the rumors he kept hearing were true. He had a hard time believing his Father would sell the hotels without talking to him. The only way it might be possible was if he thought he was using again.
I don’t think that’s likely - I’m totally under control this time.
He wondered if Rory knew anything about it - he wished that he still had access to her phone and computer. Her leaving the company had eliminated the only way he was getting information about his father. He didn’t even know where she was… how had he lost track of her?

Gavin’s arrest and betrayal had hit him hard, the guy had completely thrown him under the bus. The detective seemed to believe him, though, when they brought him in for questioning. It was going to be his word against someone who was guilty of pulling a knife on his step sister. Somehow his Dad blamed him for what happened to Rory. It was just like his Dad not to believe him, he always blamed Jackson for things. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t know what Gavin was capable of when he asked for his help. The conversation with his father still rung in his head. He had a feeling he didn’t believe him at all. It still pissed him off that he seemed to trust Rory more than him. How had that happened? How had the bitch accomplished that? He always knew she was up to something, trying to move him out of the way.
 

Maybe he could go by Rory’s house and see if he could figure out what was going on. He felt confident that Rory didn’t believe Gavin’s story about him. The only problem might be her boyfriend, he had a feeling that Max was not a very forgiving guy. He seemed a little over protective of Rory. Maybe he would go by after he was done at the office. He just needed to meet his friend and make sure he had enough to get through the weekend.

***

“Can you open all the windows in the living room?”

“Are you sure you want to open everything? The storm may be coming in tonight.”

Rory walked into the living room with a pile of clothes for the drycleaners. “I want to air the house out before the rain comes, it has been closed for almost a month.”

“I forgot it was that long. You took two and half weeks to travel to all of the offices, and then we were in Florida for almost two weeks.”

“I need to go to the grocery store. Are you going to your office to check in?”

“I was going to wait until tomorrow. If you give me a list I will go to the market.”

“Ok, that sounds good. I can get myself organized and start the laundry. I think I’m going to crash early tonight, since I’m still on Florida time. I think I will just make some risotto for dinner and a salad.”

“Sounds good to me…. wife.”

“Are you going to slip that into conversation whenever you can?”

“Probably, I may just forget your name and just call you wife or Mrs. Bishop.”

“I think I prefer Mrs. Bishop, you can only call me wife when we are in bed and you ask me for sexual favors.”

He gathered her in his arms and looked down at her, “So ‘wife’ will soon be associated with pleasure in your mind.”

“It will be in yours, since you’re the one who will be benefitting from the sexual favors.”

“I think I like it. I’d better start thinking about. Which one should I ask for first?”

“Yeah, you probably don’t want to waste something like that. Careful consideration might be a good idea, you wouldn’t want to waste it on something you really didn’t want.”

“What about you…. what kind of favors would you like to ask for?”

“I can’t think of one thing that you have not already done. I’m pretty much in Disneyland with you. I don’t have your experience, so I’m pretty easy to please.”

“What are you saying? Do you think that we need to be more daring?”

“No, I’m saying that I married a man who is better than any dream I could have come up with on my own. I think that says more about me than anything else.”

He took one step forward that brought them belly to belly, he cupped the back of her head and let his lips fall against hers. The kiss went from a slow gentle expression of their love to lust in less than a minute. That must be why people called it the honeymoon phase - they had a constant need to be on top of one another. Their mouths moved together slowly, deeply and fully.
 

Several minutes later he pulled back and stared down at her, “I’d better go to the grocery store, before I lose all control and take you into the bedroom.”

She looked at him for a second and tried to pull herself out of her lust induced fog, and hoped her brain cells would organize themselves quickly. “List… I will make you one.”

***

Rory stood in her kitchen and realized that everything about her life had changed since the last time she stood there. She had left a month ago and wasn’t sure if she was going to continue to see Max. Now she was married and pregnant - what a difference a month makes. Shaking her head she started to collect the ingredients for the risotto and heard her phone buzz. Pulling out her phone she read the text from Birdie welcoming her home and a demand for all information about her trip. If Birdie saw her, she would figure everything out. It would take one look from her best friend for her to figure out that she was pregnant and married.
How long can I hide out, before I confess everything?

She quickly texted her back and suggested lunch for the following week, that might just give her the time she needed. Her phone started buzzing again, and it was an email from the manager from the Hotel Valencia confirming availability for the ceremony on Sunday. It was good news, but it was going to take a lot of work to pull it off in five days. They could send out an email invitation and then follow up with a phone call. She was going to get married twice in two weeks. That might be a record! She decided to wait to start making phone calls until after she talked to Max.

Better get started on dinner - the baby was starting to get hungry. As she stood at the stove carefully stirring the risotto, she heard a sound on the patio. She wondered if the neighbor’s cat was chasing something in the back yard again. Dismissing it, she turned back around and continued to add broth and stir, it was almost done.

The screen door scraped open making a loud shrill sound that startled her. She dropped her spoon, twirled around and her breath caught. In walked a sweaty, disheveled Jackson, he didn’t look anything like himself. His eyes were dilated and he looked around frantically. “So you don’t like to use the front door. Something wrong with knocking Jackson?”

Her heart was beating out of her chest, and she had a really bad feeling about why he was here. She quickly looked around her kitchen and tried to remember if she knew where her gun was. All of her cognitive functions had sped up and were not allowing her to process anything. She hoped that Max would walk in through the door any minute and save her. She had a feeling that she was going to definitely need saving in the next ten minutes. This might really give Max an ‘I told you so moment’….darn!

“Shut up Rory. I know what you did.”

“That’s rude, you can’t come into my home and tell me to shut up. Why did you come in through the backyard?” She felt like she knew the answer, she just needed to stall him. She needed Max to get home….now.

“I didn’t want your cameras to record my image. What the hell do you need all of the equipment for?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you asked a crazy man to stalk me, and I thought it might be a good idea to take some precautions.”

“I did not ask Gavin to stalk you.”

“We both know what you did and that you are ultimately responsible to what happened in my office.”

“I didn’t pull the knife on you and attempt to kidnap you.”

“No, you were just the one who asked the crazy to keep an eye on me.”

“It’s over… forget about it.”

“Ok, I will. What are you doing here?”

“You have to tell me what you know about the rumor on the sale of the hotels?”

“I don’t work there anymore. I haven’t in over a month. Why do you think that I know anything?”

“Because you know everything that goes on, and your mother would tell you if something is going on.”
 

“I have not been home for a month, and surprisingly, I’m no longer invested in what happens there. I have moved on.”

“I don’t really believe you.”

“I really don’t care. You need to leave and never return. You have never liked me or treated me with any respect. I don’t think there is any reason that we ever have to see one another again. Go live your life.”

“I’m trying, except you screwed everything up. It’s all falling apart, and it’s your fault.”

“That is the most ridiculous thing - you are the king of the company. I have no interest in it.”

“All the deals that I have in place are going to fall apart if there is in fact a sale of the hotels.”

“Call your father.”

“He is not taking my calls, he’s pissed about what happened to you.”

“Imagine that, what a shock.”

“I don’t appreciate your attitude.”

“I don’t appreciate you breaking into my house and bothering me. You need to leave right now.”

“No, you need to fix this!”

She looked closely at him and tried to determine how crazy he was. Was he experiencing a psychotic breakdown or was he just strung out on something. His face was flush, and he looked like he was about to go over the edge.”

“Do you want me to call your Father and ask him? I don’t know what you need me to fix.”